RICHARD H. TRULY

NASA Administrator, May 14, 1989-March 31, 1992

Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly became NASA's Associate Administrator for Space
Flight on February 20, 1986. In this position, he led the painstaking rebuilding
of the Space Shuttle program. This was highlighted by NASA's celebrated "return
to flight" on September 29, 1988, when Discovery lifted off from
Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on the first Shuttle mission in almost 3 years.

Before returning to NASA, the former Shuttle astronaut served
as the first commander of the Naval Space Command, Dahlgren, Virginia,
established October 1, 1983. His career in the U.S. Navy began
in 1959, when he was commissioned an ensign. This coincided with
his graduation from Georgia Institute of Technology, which he
attended as a Naval R.O.T.C. midshipman and earned a bachelor's
degree in aeronautical engineering.

Following flight school, he was designated a naval aviator in
1960. His initial tour of duty, Fighter Squadron 33, was aboard
USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise, and he made more
than 300 carrier landings. From 1963 to 1965, he was a student
and then instructor at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot
School, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

In 1965, Truly became one of the first military astronauts selected
to the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in Los Angeles,
California, and transferred to NASA as an astronaut in August
1969. He served as capsule communicator for all three Skylab missions
in 1973 and the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. As a naval aviator,
test pilot, and astronaut, Truly logged over 7,500 hours in numerous
military and civilian jet aircraft.

He was pilot for one of the two-astronaut crews that flew the
747/Space Shuttle Enterprise approach and landing test
flights during 1977. He then was backup pilot for STS-1, the first
orbital test of the Shuttle. His first space flight was November
12-14, 1981, as pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-2),
significant as the first piloted spacecraft to be reflown in space.
His second flight (STS-8, August 30-September 5, 1983) was as
commander of Space Shuttle Challenger, the first night
launch and landing in the Shuttle program.

On January 18, 1989, Truly was awarded the Presidential Citizen's
Medal by President Reagan. His NASA awards include two NASA Distinguished
Service Medals, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, two NASA
Exceptional Service Medals and two NASA Space Flight Medals. His
military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service
Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, two Legions of Merit,
the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Meritorious Service
Medal.

Truly also has received the Robert J. Collier Trophy (twice, 1982
and 1989), the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (twice, 1982
and 1989), the Society of Experimental Test Pilot's Ivan C. Kincheloe
Award (1978) and James H. Doolittle Award (1988), the Federation
Aeronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal (1984), the Harmon
International Trophy (1982), the Thomas D. White Space Trophy
(1982), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Haley Space Flight Award (1980), the American Astronautical Society's
Flight Achievement Award (1977) and John F. Kennedy Astronautics
Award (1990), the Air Force Association's David C. Shilling Award
(1978), the Veterans of Foreign Wars Aviation and Space Gold Medal
(1991), the Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Eagle Scout Award,
the Medal of Honor of the National Society of the Daughters of
the American Revolution, and the Sons of the American Revolution
Gold and Silver Good Citizenship Awards.

Truly was born in Fayette, Mississippi, on November 12, 1937,
and attended school in Fayette and Meridian, Mississippi. He married
Colleen Cody Hanner of Milledgeville, Georgia, and they had three
children.

After leaving NASA, Adm. Truly became Vice President and Director
of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology
in Atlanta.